Morning Star

Star bright, star light, First star I see tonight

I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.

The courtyard, onto which my new room opens, is lighted at night, but the lights are on a timer set on daylight time.  So the lights go off at 6 am while it is still dark.

I can go out in the darkness and enjoy the night sky. When the moon is in the last quarter, there is moonlight. That was not so this morning, but Venus the Morning Star was high in the sky and bright enough to penetrate the slight morning haze.

"Venus, the Morning Star," I hear you ask. "I thought Venus was the Evening Star."

And you are right.  Venus is the Evening Star, AND the Morning Star.  But not at the same time. Venus', our sister planet, orbit is inside that of Earth. So from the Earth, Venus appears to stay close to the sun. That means as Venus goes around the sun, sometimes she leads the sun when it is rising, and is the Morning star, and sometimes follows the setting sun, and is the Evening Star. In either role, she is bright and beautiful

She sure was this morning.

Tags: Astronomy, Venus, Morning Star, Evening Star, Twinkle Twinkle little star